


affection

by scheherazade



Category: D-BOYS, Tenimyu RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 06:57:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19351810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scheherazade/pseuds/scheherazade
Summary: "You can stay mad at Adachi forever if you want, but I'm done with this. This fight—this bit—whatever it is that's going on with you two. I'm tired of being the rope in your stupid tug-of-war."





	affection

**Author's Note:**

> (written as a drabble request)

"Time's up, Arayan." And that's the worst part—he doesn't sound annoyed; he sounds tired. Fifteen years of friendship and forever and even Zukki has a limit, turns out. "You can stay mad at Adachi forever if you want, but I'm done with this. This fight—this bit—whatever it is that's going on with you two. I'm tired of being the rope in your stupid tug-of-war."

"There's nothing going on with us. I didn't ask you to get involved. Adachi shouldn't have either—"

"He didn't ask." There's a snap in his voice now. "I just _am_ because I'm the jackass who's still trying to hold this friendship together even though neither of you are trying. But at least Adachi doesn't get bitchy with me—"

"You calling me a bitch?"

"Maybe you deserve it!" Zukki throws up his hands—actually flings his stick arms toward the heavens. His hands drift back down to clutch at his hair. "Sorry. Look, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, all right?"

"Really? Kinda sounds like you're reading me the riot act here."

"Because I've had enough! Of all this. Of you and Adachi ignoring each other and being sad that you're being ignored by each other. God, Arayan, it's literally been ten years. Do you two even _remember_ why you're mad at each other anymore?"

 _Stop it! Just stop it, Arayan._ He remembers the way Adachi's voice cracked; he remembers the way Adachi soldiered on, because he was always brave. _Nothing I say makes any difference to you, but I need you to understand. This has nothing to do with whether I care about you. I have to leave for me. And if you care about me, then you have to accept that._

Adachi could always see right through him, and Araki hated him for it. Not even Zukki understood, sometimes, but Adachi—fragile, anxious, smart-mouthed and shy Adachi took one look at Araki and saw right through the bluff. 

"He ran away," Araki says, out loud, to another human being, for the first time since it happened. "He ran away because he couldn't handle the pressure, and you and Yuuya and the rest—you coddled him. You're still coddling him. He doesn't get to feel sad and left out when he's the one who ran away, and if he wanted us to stay friends then he should've made an effort to stick around the way everybody else does!"

"Everybody else—like who? Me?"

"Yes, you! And me! And literally everybody who understands what they signed up for when they joined this stupid agency—"

"Arayan, plenty of people decide to quit! Half the trainees and a couple veterans every other year. There's loads of people—"

"Those people don't fucking matter!"

—which. Zukki's mouth snaps shut in surprise. Too late to take it back now. There's a headache forming somewhere behind Araki's clenched jaw, radiating through his bones.

"He says he cares about—" _me_ "—our friendship, well, then he should've fucking acted like it. You make an effort if you care. You stick around if you care. You can either fucking show up when it matters or you can fuck off. That's just how it works."

"How what works?" Zukki's voice is quieter than before. He sounds—gentle. And that's not how this was supposed to go. "I know you still care. You care a lot, and I'm telling you—Adachi does, too. He's always cared most what you think, you know. Even though he really should have been listening to me."

Araki can't even laugh because it's probably true. "He's got a funny way of showing it."

"Maybe he doesn't know how. You considered that? You're real scary when you're mad at somebody. Obviously, I know you're a whole marshmallow on the inside so it doesn't work on me, but for the less enlightened." Zukki grins at the eye roll he gets for that. "Honestly, the pair of you. Have you tried _telling_ each other some of this?"

"What's there to tell? I got mad at him for quitting, neither of us handled it well, and now we don't talk anymore. Like you said, it's literally been a million years. Let it go, Zukki."

"Nuh-uh. You know I don't give up that easy." 

"What are you—" An arm snakes around Araki's elbow, two hands forming a vice. For a stick figure of a human being, Zukki's grip is surprisingly strong. "Let go of me."

"In good time, my dear. In good time." Full-on ham mode now. Araki fixes him with a glare; Zukki grins back. "First, I gotta make sure you don't get cold feet and change your mind."

"Change my mind about what?"

"Having lunch with me and Adachin, duh. Like I said: done with both of your piles of bullshit. And since you already admitted that you're moping for no good reason, the two of you can just apologize to each other instead of telling me how much you both regret sacrificing your friendship and the best years of your youth on the altar of show biz, blah blah blah."

"Okay, first of all—"

"He always asks after you, you know." Zukki gives him a meaningful look. "And you always get jealous when I tell you I'm hanging out with Adachin, which, honestly, Arayan. You're an idiot."

"Why the hell would I be jealous of someone hanging out with you. I see your stupid mug too much as it is."

"You love my stupid mug." Zukki grabs him in a headlock when Araki makes a last-ditch attempt to squirm free. "Jig's up, my guy. We know. Always have. You love both of us."

He doesn't notice fingers carding through his hair until it's too late, and then Zukki's dumb smiling lips are pressed against his forehead. Almost a nuzzle, and definitely something people only ever pull with sad-eyed china dolls like Adachi. Nobody tries to tame Araki with affection. 

Except Zukki, apparently.

"Fuck off," he hears himself mumble.

"You don't mean that." Zukki keeps his arm around Araki's shoulders, easy as anything. "Nice try, though."

And maybe that's actually how it works. Because you have to, don't you, when you care. You have to show up. At some point, you have to choose to stick around and try.

"It's okay," Zukki says quietly, still smiling and always, always sure. "It's gonna be okay, Arayan. You'll see."


End file.
